Now, he may also lose a lucrative contract with the Phoenix Police Department.

Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio is asking that Whitaker's $268,800 contract be canceled immediately, according to a letter he sent to Phoenix City Manager Ed Zuercher on Saturday.

"Phoenix police insisted that this contract was thoroughly vetted, which now turns out to be false," DiCiccio said in a statement. "The Council and the public were duped into believing this was a non-issue, which is now clearly not true. Those who pushed for this contract should be fully held accountable."

Whitaker, 44, is a well-known speaker and author who focuses on African-American history, civil rights and racial equality.

After the university found "significant issues with the content" of his recent book, Whitaker was demoted June 26 from ASU Foundation professor of history to associate professor, and from the founding director of ASU's Center for the Study of Race and Democracy to co-director.

In May, he won a sole-bid contract for his consulting company to provide "cultural consciousness training" for the Phoenix Police Department. The Whitaker Group provides "instruction that is designed to develop trust, accountability and mutual respect with the community and to enhance officer decision making and safety," and the department has the option to extend the contract for $96,000.

The department requested that the contract be non-competitive, according to council documents. The training started in April, although Whitaker did not win the contract until May.

During the council meeting in which Whitaker won the contract, Phoenix police Cmdr. Michael Kurtenbach said "staff looked at his qualifications and determined he was the best choice with local knowledge to provide training to officers," and that "the department felt imperative to move forward as quickly as possible," according to public notes from the meeting.

"When the Phoenix Council retroactively awarded his contract, Phoenix Police presented that he was exonerated from charges of plagiarism. Phoenix Police testimony turned out to be false," DiCiccio said in his letter.

"Commander Kurtenbach was adamant in hiring Dr. Whitaker. At the very least he did not complete the background as testified. At worst, he purposely misled the Council and public in order to award this sole bid without any competitive bid process wasting precious taxpayer monies," he added.

Whitaker said in an e-mail Sunday that "there was no deception in the process."

"The training has been well received by the Police Department, community leaders, and citizens. The diversity of this support is rare and laudable," he wrote. "We are educating and building bridges in Phoenix in an era of cynicism and divisiveness. It is very important that me and my excellent training staff continue the work to which we have placed our hands. This is more than a business arrangement for us, it is our passion and duty. The safety of our officers and community is our primary concern."

DiCiccio also asked Zuercher for all background information and files related to the contract, for information about what search was done to see if other organizations could have performed the training, and for police to identify who recommended Whitaker for the job.

The training is on summer hiatus and is scheduled to resume in late August, according to a Saturday statement from Sgt. Vince Lewis, a department spokesman.

"The goal for departmental training has been to provide useful, timely, and relevant topics in law enforcement, which Dr. Whitaker has been able to provide in his portion of the 40 hour Module to this point," the statement said.

"We are aware of the situation and will be working with ASU to determine exactly what has taken place. This is an important issue to the City, our department and our community."

"After concerns were raised about his book 'Peace Be Still: Modern Black America from World War II to Barack Obama' an investigation ensued in keeping with ASU policy. Results of that investigation identified significant issues with the content of the aforementioned book," ASU interim University Provost Mark Searle wrote in an e-mail sent to select faculty last week.

Searle's e-mail included a letter from Whitaker in which he admitted to mistakes and apologized to his colleagues.

"My critics have revealed numerous mistakes that I made. It is painful to recognize that I was so careless as to fail to properly paraphrase and cite sources, despite my reverence and respect for the work of others in this field," Whitaker wrote.

"I alerted ASU administration to the fact that the text contained unattributed and poorly paraphrased material. I accept responsibility for these errors and I am working with my publisher to make the appropriate corrections."

Whitaker's salary will be reduced by $10,000, to $153,530, starting with the new academic year this fall, and moving from director to co-director of the center will reduce his stipend from $20,000 to $10,000, according to ASU.

He is not currently scheduled to teach any classes this fall, according to ASU's online course catalog.